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Post by Lokifan on Jan 23, 2014 17:47:30 GMT
It's official. California is in the worst drought in its history. When it gets warmer, we're going to burn, I'm sure. In fact, the hills are already brown. They're asking every household to voluntarily cut water usage back by 20%. At least, it's voluntary for now, that is. I expect that to change. I remember the last big drought when I was a kid and it wasn't fun. We recycled washing machine water for use in the bathroom. And there was that lovely old rhyme: "If it's yellow let it mellow- If it's brown flush it down." Not looking forward to summer. Not meaning to down play your troubles Loki, but "brown flush it down" is a typical Australian summer. But I do hope that your home & family bypass the worst of what's to come - who knows you may get heavy rains over the next three months & all your worries will have been for nothing. Fingers crossed. Thanks, Lex. Part of the problem is that much of central California was already in a man-made drought before this started. The powers that be have diverted water from agriculture to be simply dumped into the delta (and from there, into the ocean) to supposedly preserve a small bait fish called the delta smelt. This, regardless of the fact that there appears to be a sizeable population of this fish. As a result, the center of the state was turning into a dust bowl, and an economic disaster for the farmers. Some farming communities face 40% unemployment. California has been a massive food exporter (even in these last few years) and this won't bode well for world food prices. I'll bet water rights are a major issue down under as well, am I right? Can't run a sheep station without something for the poor critters to drink. |
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Post by ironhold on Jan 23, 2014 19:43:07 GMT
Those jeans I was complaining about? I tripped earlier today and wound up doing the splits, in the process tearing the crotch out. I make it back to my room and start going through my clothes in order to see if I have something to wear for when I go to work tonight. Sure enough, I had another - and far more comfortable - pair of jeans the entire time.  It was mixed in with some shorts that I had put up for the winter. |
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Post by the light works on Jan 24, 2014 6:08:36 GMT
Those jeans I was complaining about? I tripped earlier today and wound up doing the splits, in the process tearing the crotch out. I make it back to my room and start going through my clothes in order to see if I have something to wear for when I go to work tonight. Sure enough, I had another - and far more comfortable - pair of jeans the entire time. It was mixed in with some shorts that I had put up for the winter. That's the price you pay for not wearing the same clothes year 'round. |
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Post by silverdragon on Jan 24, 2014 8:00:12 GMT
Water shortage.
Hose pipe ban.
I am out watering the lawn..... up comes mr-i-think-i-am-better-than-you....
"There is a hose pipe ban why in hell are you watering your lawn?... have you no morrals?... " and some other un-printable idiocy.
"Me?.. I am just recycling waste pond water, whats your excuse for being an idiot?.."
Everyone in the street knows I use Waste pond water to water my garden... its high in stuff that is bad for fish but good for plants... sort of natures own fertiliser, fish poo, makes your lawn green.....
And yes, when water is short, I do share my waste pond water with neighbours.
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Post by ironhold on Jan 24, 2014 16:11:25 GMT
Heck of a night last night.
Sleet started in around 4 PM or so, and by 6 PM we had a snow flurry begin.
I made it to work and back safely, with some minor slippage from my rear tires as I encountered ice.
One of the other couriers, however, didn't fare quite so well.
Although the paper is based out of Copperas Cove here, we're so small that we have to rent time from the paper in Bryan (over two hours away) to get our papers printed. As such, one of us is tasked each day with taking the company SUV and going to pick them up; on occasion, the person is also tasked with picking up the papers for two sister publications in the area.
He was transitioning from I-35 to US Highway 190 when he caught a patch of ice and lost control (I was told that the entire juncture area there became a parking lot due to all of the vehicles that went off the road). He managed to keep it level, and so he was able to walk away from it. The SUV, however, most likely has frame damage. The editor and assistant editor went out there to get him and limp the SUV back to the office. One of the rear doors was jammed shut because the bumper was now blocking it, and the other rear door wouldn't completely close.
So yeah - he had a heck of a close call.
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Post by the light works on Jan 24, 2014 16:20:38 GMT
Heck of a night last night. Sleet started in around 4 PM or so, and by 6 PM we had a snow flurry begin. I made it to work and back safely, with some minor slippage from my rear tires as I encountered ice. One of the other couriers, however, didn't fare quite so well. Although the paper is based out of Copperas Cove here, we're so small that we have to rent time from the paper in Bryan (over two hours away) to get our papers printed. As such, one of us is tasked each day with taking the company SUV and going to pick them up; on occasion, the person is also tasked with picking up the papers for two sister publications in the area. He was transitioning from I-35 to US Highway 190 when he caught a patch of ice and lost control (I was told that the entire juncture area there became a parking lot due to all of the vehicles that went off the road). He managed to keep it level, and so he was able to walk away from it. The SUV, however, most likely has frame damage. The editor and assistant editor went out there to get him and limp the SUV back to the office. One of the rear doors was jammed shut because the bumper was now blocking it, and the other rear door wouldn't completely close. So yeah - he had a heck of a close call. one of the more colorful snow related accidents my department went to (before I joined) was a Suburban that hit a slippery spot, spun around, backed into a stump and sprung both back doors - on the way to a Christmas dinner. I think they were able to get the gifts loaded back in and send them on their way once the wrecker got it out of the ditch. Mrs TLW was watching national news when I started breakfast, and they had a multiple truck collision on a freeway somewhere in snow country - people following too close in a white-out (fog) and had a chain reaction collision. |
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Post by the light works on Jan 24, 2014 16:24:45 GMT
Not meaning to down play your troubles Loki, but "brown flush it down" is a typical Australian summer. But I do hope that your home & family bypass the worst of what's to come - who knows you may get heavy rains over the next three months & all your worries will have been for nothing. Fingers crossed. Thanks, Lex. Part of the problem is that much of central California was already in a man-made drought before this started. The powers that be have diverted water from agriculture to be simply dumped into the delta (and from there, into the ocean) to supposedly preserve a small bait fish called the delta smelt. This, regardless of the fact that there appears to be a sizeable population of this fish. As a result, the center of the state was turning into a dust bowl, and an economic disaster for the farmers. Some farming communities face 40% unemployment. California has been a massive food exporter (even in these last few years) and this won't bode well for world food prices. I'll bet water rights are a major issue down under as well, am I right? Can't run a sheep station without something for the poor critters to drink. the bad news is, California stiffed several out of state fire crews that came to help with the last big fire season; which means that many rural departments won't send crews to help. (if a fire crew responds to a wildfire outside their jurisdiction, then unless there is a mutual aid agreement with different terms, the jurisdiction they are helping pays a certain per diem rate based on the type of crew that goes. - so that the taxpayers in the helping district aren't stuck with the cost of the assist.) |
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Post by GTCGreg on Jan 24, 2014 18:07:46 GMT
Mrs TLW was watching national news when I started breakfast, and they had a multiple truck collision on a freeway somewhere in snow country - people following too close in a white-out (fog) and had a chain reaction collision. That was probably the chain accident on I-94 at the Michigan/Indiana boarder. I've traveled that road many times and in the winter it can be really treacherous. It runs right along the south end of Lake Michigan. When the wind is from the North, you get lake effect snow. You often go from bright sun and unlimited visibility to total white-out, zero visibility in a matter of seconds. Couple that with going from dry road to snow packed and things get ugly real fast. |
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Post by the light works on Jan 25, 2014 1:05:51 GMT
Mrs TLW was watching national news when I started breakfast, and they had a multiple truck collision on a freeway somewhere in snow country - people following too close in a white-out (fog) and had a chain reaction collision. That was probably the chain accident on I-94 at the Michigan/Indiana boarder. I've traveled that road many times and in the winter it can be really treacherous. It runs right along the south end of Lake Michigan. When the wind is from the North, you get lake effect snow. You often go from bright sun and unlimited visibility to total white-out, zero visibility in a matter of seconds. Couple that with going from dry road to snow packed and things get ugly real fast. that sounds like the right I-number. |
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Post by The Urban Mythbuster on Jan 25, 2014 3:55:21 GMT
CT has another "snow event" on the way. I needed to go to the store to get some milk (I was out and actually needed it) and the store was loaded with the milk/bread/eggs crowd. I, of course, made sure I had chips, dip, & beer.  |
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Post by the light works on Jan 25, 2014 6:33:14 GMT
CT has another "snow event" on the way. I needed to go to the store to get some milk (I was out and actually needed it) and the store was loaded with the milk/bread/eggs crowd. I, of course, made sure I had chips, dip, & beer. no bleach? I understand the hurricane crowd gets bleach. maybe their whites need extra cleaning after the hurricane. |
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Post by Lex Of Sydney Australia on Jan 25, 2014 12:11:40 GMT
Not meaning to down play your troubles Loki, but "brown flush it down" is a typical Australian summer. But I do hope that your home & family bypass the worst of what's to come - who knows you may get heavy rains over the next three months & all your worries will have been for nothing. Fingers crossed. Thanks, Lex. Part of the problem is that much of central California was already in a man-made drought before this started. The powers that be have diverted water from agriculture to be simply dumped into the delta (and from there, into the ocean) to supposedly preserve a small bait fish called the delta smelt. This, regardless of the fact that there appears to be a sizeable population of this fish. As a result, the center of the state was turning into a dust bowl, and an economic disaster for the farmers. Some farming communities face 40% unemployment. California has been a massive food exporter (even in these last few years) and this won't bode well for world food prices. I'll bet water rights are a major issue down under as well, am I right? Can't run a sheep station without something for the poor critters to drink. Yes water rights are a serious issue with the farmers here & they often fight with the Greens (the environmentalist party) about taking water from the Murray Darling river for their crops/stock. A few years back someone tried building a desalinisation plant to help to ease the problem, but the Greens stoped it saying it would 'harm' the environment. & that taking water from the river was a better solution. Oh sure a desalinisation plant is going to cause MAJOR environmental problems, but draining a major river dry isn't?!? The Greens are the type who would kill the goose that laid the golden eggs & then turn around & complain that it was dead & blame someone else for doing it. They put the mental in environmental. |
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Post by the light works on Jan 25, 2014 13:27:24 GMT
Our Rio Grande (through Texas) now only goes halfway through texas
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Post by the light works on Jan 26, 2014 4:04:01 GMT
beautiful day for our training burn today. light wind, clear sky and comfortably warm. I will hopefully get some pictures from press releases in the next day or two.
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Post by silverdragon on Jan 26, 2014 8:43:10 GMT
Its Wet.
Liquid weather, Manchester Sunshine.
I think we had a couple of inches last night....
The weather reports show a circular almost hurricane cloud formation spinning just up from the north east of Scotland that is dragging a whole wet arm of wet all over our sodden country....
The entire zumerzet levels are on bright amber flood alert...
Well, they are all ex flood plains, some of the place names actually translate from old-english as Island, or high ground, but many are a few feet under the water right now.
Suggestions are that because people no longer maintain the gulleys at the side of the road, dont clear ditches, and other drains, we get more flooding?... that is a no-shirt-Sherlock isnt it?...
The only good part is that london INSIDE the flood barrier is getting as much wet as the rest of the country....
Why is that good?...
Because the [deleted] politicians who have forgot who they are supposed to represent are getting as wet as everyone else.
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Post by OziRiS on Jan 26, 2014 9:26:45 GMT
You guys are flooded AGAIN? How long has it been since last time? A couple of months?
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Post by silverdragon on Jan 26, 2014 9:42:49 GMT
About a couple of hours since last time... as in, we are STILL flooded in certain parts, it hasnt gone away yet.
We are getting "Once in a life-time" storms all across the UK.
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Post by OziRiS on Jan 26, 2014 10:44:05 GMT
Yeah, I know you guys have been hit pretty hard with the wet stuff over the past couple of months. We got some of it too, but not nearly as bad as the UK.
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Post by silverdragon on Jan 26, 2014 11:18:53 GMT
This is nothing to do with Climate change....
This is more to do with Flood plains.
The fact is that now and again, the weather gets a little CRAPty...
The world as we know it can vouch for history of Storms.
Right now, its Our turn.
I know its no consolation to those that have been flooded, but, this happens, they reckon, every 300 years or so?... and its been 290 since that last one?...
This is why you are seeing many villages out in Somerset cut off from elsewhere....
They are built on slightly higher ground....
Erm....
Let me see then, the WHOLE village was built on High ground, along with many other villages in the area?...
I wonder why?....
Perhaps thats because our Ancestors were not as daft as we thought they were?....
Our weather is changeable.
Which is pretty much why many of our buildings in history that have survived are built with the strongest building materials we can find....
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Post by the light works on Jan 26, 2014 15:08:53 GMT
we run into the same thing here. developers come in and build housing developments on these beautiful level pieces of ground that used to be pastures - and then are shocked (SHOCKED!) when the entire area goes under water during the rainy season. That is why we now have elaborate, and sometimes foolish, flood maps in the area, now. (one house that I looked at "flood plain" issues on was built about 45 feet above the ocean on a bluff. when considering the chances of the house being flooded, the term "biblical" comes to mind.
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It was mixed in with some shorts that I had put up for the winter. 
